Bartlet4America News Archive

West Wing jumps shark

Either that or it was an elaborate homage to Three's Company
Scott Feschuk
National Post

Monday, October 27, 2003


This column probably dwells too often on The West Wing (NBC/CTV), but last Wednesday's episode deserves comment. It also deserves its own small display case in the Smithsonian, playing on an eternal loop under the title Glimpse the Precise Moment at Which One of the Great American TV Dramas Announced to Millions of Viewers: "Your Attention Please -- This Show Now Sucks!"

Are you like me? Could you sense it happening? Did you wish you could stop time, travel to Hollywood, break into NBC headquarters, eject and burn the tape that was playing the episode and then, on your way out, stop by Alicia Silverstone's dressing room and try on her underwear? (OK, maybe that was just me: Most normal people would probably just smash the tape rather than go to the trouble of igniting it.)

For those of you fortunate enough to have missed it, here's what transpired: Will, the speechwriter, was having trouble crafting some acceptably grandiose remarks with which President Bartlet could introduce his new, and profoundly unremarkable, vice-president. In a moment of frustration, he and Toby spontaneously dictated the address they wished the president could give -- a speech rich in invective, a speech in which the naming of the new VP was heralded as a triumph of the middling.

Their indignation was credible enough. But savvy viewers couldn't help but notice that Will was actually typing all those nasty words into the same document that contained the real speech and ... hmm ... no, they'd never stoop to that, would they? They wouldn't have us believe that the congenitally fastidious and paranoid Toby would allow Will to type those words into a computer, and then forget to tell him to delete them, would they? They wouldn't pretend that neither Will nor Toby would notice the curiously large tally of snide adjectives when reading the final draft, would they? They wouldn't sully one of the most literate, intelligent network dramas with a crude, musty sitcom device straight out of Three's Company, would they?

See They would. They did. During the ceremony in the rose garden of the White House, the teleprompter arrived at Will and Toby's vivid rant. The President was forced to ad lib. Will and Toby were forced to apologize. And viewers across North America were forced to battle the urge to hunt down executive producer John Wells and bite him on the shins.

I'm not sure what Wells and company have in store for this week's installment. My guess is President Bartlet will order a full-scale nuclear attack on China as part of a wacky, misguided attempt to prove he's gay to Mr. Roper.

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